Judge's absence aborts Chemmani hearing

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 March 1999, 10:52 GMT]The Chemmani case was not taken up in the Jaffna courts today as it was discovered that the additional judge N. Arulsaaharan who is hearing it had been left behind in Colombo. The CID officer who came this morning from Colombo to file the geologist's report on the soil sample that was taken from the general area where the alleged mass grave is said to be located was told that there was no judge to hear the case.

Sources in the Attorney General (AG) department said that nothing could be done, as there was no judge to fix a new date or issue instructions to the CID based on the soil report.

However, informed court sources in Jaffna said that the judge N.Arulsaaharan had been ready at his residence in Colombo this morning to take the plane to Jaffna for the case. But no one, according to these sources, had gone to pick him for the Jaffna flight.

Mr.Arulsaaharan was appointed by the judicial services commission days before the government flew in a more than fifty local and foreign media personnel along with officials from the Attorney General's department, top CID officials, a geologist and forensic experts. (Photo: Reuters)